58% of Australian SME owners shop for utility discounts at least annually, and one in five do it every six months or more often.
It is genuinely the one cost behaviour Australian small business does well. It is also, for most, done badly — because almost everyone compares the wrong number.
Why most comparisons fail
The headline usage rate is one of five things that determine your bill, and it is frequently not the largest.
The other four — daily supply charge, demand charges, time-of-use windows and contract expiry terms — are covered in detail in our guide to the July 2026 electricity changes. Read that first if you have not.
What this page covers is the process: how to run a comparison that produces a genuinely better outcome rather than a differently-structured one.
The failure mode is consistent. A business compares the advertised rate, switches, and discovers twelve months later that their bill went up — because the supply charge was higher, or a demand charge applied, or the discount expired and reverted to standing-offer pricing.
A note on the DMO
Small business received a Default Market Offer reduction from 1 July 2026 — but the DMO is a cap on standing offers, not a price you are automatically paid. If you have ever actively signed an energy contract, it does not apply to you.
The number that matters more: the gap between a standing offer and a competitive market offer is typically 10–25% for a business that has never properly tested it. That is several times larger than any DMO movement.
Full detail on the July change: small business electricity prices fell up to 14%.
Doing it properly
1. Get your actual data. Your NMI, twelve months of consumption in kWh, current tariff type and rates. Your retailer must provide interval data on request. Any comparison built on an estimate is a guess.
2. Compare all five components, not the headline rate.
3. Check your exit position on the current contract before signing anything.
4. Consider a broker if you are a larger consumer. Businesses above roughly 100MWh a year can frequently beat published rates.
5. Diarise the expiry. Set a reminder at eleven months. The most common failure is switching well, then rolling onto standing-offer pricing when the benefit period ends.
Beyond electricity
The same instinct rarely extends to where the money often is:
Insurance — up as much as 60% since 2019, and most businesses renew without testing the market once in five years.
Software — 25–30% of SaaS licences go unused, worth $12,500–$15,000 on a $50,000 budget.
Merchant fees — rarely reviewed, negotiable at volume.
Telco — business plans are routinely over-specified.
The honest limit
Utilities are lever six of nine — moderate impact, very low effort. Worth an hour, not worth a week.
Energy costs rose roughly 26% since March 2020 and are now the one line moving in your favour. Meanwhile wages carry about half the weighting of the small business cost index and rose 20.3%, and insurance rose 51.7%.
Take the easy money. Then go and work on the levers that actually move the number.
Where to go next
- Small Business Electricity Prices Fell Up to 14%\n- The SaaS Audit\n- Why Your Business Insurance Premium Went Up 60%\n- How to Cut Business Costs in Australia
Sources: Australian Energy Regulator Default Market Offer, effective 1 July 2026; CommBank SME research; AMP Bank GO Small Business Cost Pressure Index 2026; industry SaaS utilisation research. DMO applies in NSW, SE QLD and SA; Victoria operates the separate Victorian Default Offer.